hound
1 Americannoun
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one of any of several breeds of dogs trained to pursue game either by sight or by scent, especially one with a long face and large drooping ears.
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Informal. any dog.
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Slang.
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an unpleasant, mean, or despicable person.
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a man who chases women; a promiscuous man.
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Informal. an ardent fan or devotee.
an autograph hound.
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one of the pursuers in the game of hare and hounds.
verb (used with object)
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hounds,
present (3rd person singular)
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hounded,
past participle, past
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hounding
present participle
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to hunt or track with hounds, or as a hound does; pursue.
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to pursue or harass without respite.
Her little brother wouldn't stop hounding her.
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to incite (a hound) to pursuit or attack; urge on.
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Informal. to incite or urge (a person) to do something (often followed byon ).
The committee has been hounded on by those who want these repairs done immediately.
idioms
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ride to hounds, to participate in a hunt, whether as a member of the field or of the hunt staff.
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follow the hounds, to participate in a hunt, especially as a member of the field.
noun
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Nautical. either of a pair of fore-and-aft members at the lower end of the head of a mast, for supporting the trestletrees, that support an upper mast at its heel.
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a horizontal bar or brace, usually one of a pair, for strengthening the running gear of a horse-drawn wagon or the like.
noun
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any of several breeds of dog used for hunting
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( in combination )
an otterhound
a deerhound
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a pack of foxhounds, etc
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a dog, esp one regarded as annoying
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a despicable person
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(in hare and hounds) a runner who pursues a hare
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slang an enthusiast
an autograph hound
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short for houndfish See also nursehound
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to take part in a fox hunt with hounds
verb
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to pursue or chase relentlessly
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to urge on
noun
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either of a pair of horizontal bars that reinforce the running gear of a horse-drawn vehicle
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nautical either of a pair of fore-and-aft braces that serve as supports for a topmast
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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houndsimple
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houndssimple
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have houndedperfect
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has houndedperfect
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am houndingprogressive
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are houndingprogressive
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is houndingprogressive
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have been houndingperfect progressive
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has been houndingperfect progressive
Past
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houndedsimple
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had houndedperfect
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was houndingprogressive
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were houndingprogressive
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had been houndingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hound1
First recorded before 900; Middle English h(o)und, Old English hund; cognate with Dutch hond, Old Norse hundr, Danish, Swedish hund, German Hund, Gothic hunds; akin to Latin canis, Greek kýōn (genitive kynós ), Sanskrit śván (genitive śunas ), Old Irish cú (genitive con ), Welsh ci (plural cwn ), Tocharian A kū, Lithuanian šuõ
Origin of hound2
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English houn(e), hune, from Old Norse hūnn “knob at the top of a masthead”
Explanation
A hound is a type of dog with big floppy ears, mainly used for hunting. To hound someone is to relentlessly pursue or pester them. When Elvis sings, “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog,” he’s referring to both. Hounds are dogs that have traditionally been used for hunting because they are excellent at tracking. Most hounds (like beagles and dachshunds) have drooping, floppy ears. Hounds can also be big and scary like the one Sherlock Holmes investigates in The Hound of the Baskervilles. If people hound, they hunt, too, but just in an annoying way. A man can hound a woman by asking for a date 10 times. A hounding person is persistent and probably annoying.
Vocabulary lists containing hound
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Tampa Bay charged into the Bronx and the $350 million Yankees rolled over like a basset hound.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
After trawling through dozens of applications, the hunt is over: an Australian animal welfare group has found a successor to a hero hound credited with saving more than 100 koalas from fires.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Still, some complained Bycel was a publicity hound, and he made powerful enemies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
I am an avowed condiment hound, especially when two sauces are doing different jobs.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
To an experienced coon hound, the crude trick would have been nothing at all, but my dogs were just big, awkward pups, trailing their first live coon.
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
From paw prints in Mesopotamian pavement to hunting hounds in Renaissance sculpture, dogs have long featured in art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Trail hunting was introduced by the Hunting Act 2004 as an alternative to hounds chasing foxes and involves using an animal-scented rag.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
She made the ferry journey over to England with a fellow Dutch breeder friend and seven pooches between them -- three of them Swedish Vallhunds and four other hounds.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
Meanwhile, a runaway slave shows up out back, pursued by hounds, having heard that the Van Lew house is the place to run for help.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
White unleashed the hounds, and they picked up the killer’s trail, which curiously led right back to the dead man’s house.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
"The wrongfully accused are often hounded," Rothschild told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The woman described how Robertson hounded her with an "obsessive" amount of calls and voicemails, and sent gifts to theatres where she was performing.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“She was just hounded and just critiqued with terrible jokes,” Perry said, but she didn’t back down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
For performing this service, Amamiya was hounded off the Internet.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
It was for that reason that he hounded Úrsula to tell him where in the courtyard the gold coins that they had found inside the plaster Saint Joseph were buried.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Wings Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams started the Lakers’ preseason opener and the defensive-minded players flashed their potential by hounding opponents the full length of the court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
Her only sin was being right too early and too often — and the world never stopped hounding her for it.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Spitzer set the mold for the modern, powerful state attorney general by ruthlessly hounding Wall Street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The inquest heard sections of the media had been "hounding" the presenter over the alleged assault of Lewis Burton, which she denied.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2025
That was the first and last time Kaori had tried to teach Gen how to tell time, but she never stopped hounding her about one of life’s most important lessons: be punctual.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
